So far From the Bamboo Grove (chapters 4-7)

Hideyo, Yoko's brother, was working at the ammunition factory when it was attacked. He saw almost all the other workers got killed by Korean soldiers. Meanwhile, Yoko, her mother, Mrs. Kawashima, and Ko were at the port of Pusan. They got on a boat to Fukuoka, Japan. After that, they rode a train to Kyoto. In Kyoto, Ko and Yoko were signed up for schools. Their mother went to their grandparents' house to see how it was going there.

The part where the Koreans attacked the Japanese escapees brought a deep sorrow on me. Those people were just civilians trying to get away from a war-torn country, but they were killed just for being Japanese. Even if the Koreans had been oppressed for years, it was hard to believe that they would kill innocent people. I can understand that they would want to destroy the ammunition factory, since it was making weapons that would be used to kill Koreans, but civilians should be left out of the horrors of war.

The train station of Seoul was very crowded. It was full of thieves and beggars. Yoko, Ko, and their mother took turns to take care of their belongings and saving each others' spots. They were the target of a thief, but the family was able to protect themselves. At the same time, they searched any trains for Hideyo, but could not find him. The warehouse in Pusan was also very crowded, but with Japanese refugees. By then, Yoko was very sick (from her chest wound caused by a bomb's explosion earlier). An older man was telling her to get up and kicking at her to make room for him, but Yoko had to lie down. Her mother, using the sword, scared the man away. The whole family had to pretend to be boys, because the Korean men were "hunting maidens for their pleasure".

The Kawashima's stopped in Kyoto to sign the girls up for school: Yoko at the Sagano Girls' School, and Ko at the University. This showed that she believed that a good education led to a good life. This is similar to Confucianism (historical note: The Japanese adopted Confucianism, but did not believe that the emperor had to be honest, since he was considered to be divine).
Mrs. Kawashima valued bravery, strength, honesty, compassion, and generosity. The girls generally shared those values. On the hospital train that got bombed, they shared blankets, food, and water with sick people. On the train to Pusan, they shared their food with an elderly man who had helped them got on the train. When there were explosions around them, they did what they had been trained to do by lying down flat on the ground. They didn't panic.